Preview: Red Roses vs Wales
Everything you need to know ahead of the Red Roses' TikTok Women's Six Nations clash with Wales.
Following a decisive win over Italy last weekend, the Red Roses head to Kingsholm to face Wales in their first home outing in this year's TikTok Women's Six Nations.
Sarah Hunter will once again lead the side, as Jess Breach makes her first appearance for England since May 2021. Elsewhere Lucy Packer makes her first international start this weekend, with Abby Dow returning alongside Marlie Packer as Head Coach Simon Middleton makes eight changes to the side that won 74-0 in Parma.
Wales have made five changes of their own as Sioned Harries comes in at number eight to move captain Siwan Lillicrap over to flanker while Sisilia Tuipulotu earns her first start for her country.
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England sit top of the table on points difference with Wales and France also having accrued a maximum ten points from their opening two matches.
Wales will arrive in Gloucester with a spring in their step and full of self-belief after coming from behind on both occasions to clinch back-to-back victories in the opening two fixtures for the first time since 2015.
Meanwhile England look to maintain momentum in their title charge by stretching their winning streak to 21 in a row.
- When? Saturday, 9 April
- Kick-off? 1645 GMT
- Where? Kingsholm, Gloucester
- Coverage? Watch live on BBC Two and iPlayer, listen on BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra, and follow on England Rugby Instagram and Twitter
Teams
Red Roses
15. Abigail Dow (23 caps)
14. Jessica Breach (19 caps)
13. Emily Scarratt (VC, 98 caps)
12. Helena Rowland (12 caps)
11. Sarah McKenna (40 caps)
10. Zoe Harrison (35 caps)
9. Lucy Packer (3 caps)
1. Vickii Cornborough (66 caps)
2. Lark Davies (37 caps)
3. Sarah Bern (42 caps)
4. Poppy Cleall (52 caps)
5. Abbie Ward (52 caps)
6. Alex Matthews (47 caps)
7. Marlie Packer (80 caps)
8. Sarah Hunter (C,132 caps)
Finishers
16. Connie Powell (3 caps)
17. Maud Muir (6 caps)
18. Shaunagh Brown (25 caps)
19. Rosie Galligan (3 caps)
20. Vicky Fleetwood (80 caps)
21. Natasha Hunt (56 caps)
22. Amber Reed (59 caps)
23. Ellie Kildunne (20 caps )
Wales
15. Kayleigh Powell
14. Lisa Neumann
13. Hannah Jones
12. Kerin Lake
11. Jasmine Joyce
10. Robyn Wilkins
9. Ffion Lewis
1. Gwenllian Pyrs
2. Carys Phillips
3. Donna Rose
4. Sisilia Tuipulotu
5. Gwen Crabb
6. Siwan Lillicrap (C)
7. Alisha Butchers
8. Sioned Harries
Replacements
16. Kelsey Jones
17. Cara Hope
18. Cerys Hale
19. Alex Callender
20. Bethan Lewis
21. Keira Baven
22. Elinor Snowsill
23. Natalia John
Views from camp
England captain Sarah Hunter: "Winning is the main goal, but it's bigger than just that. It's not just about winning to tick a box, we're on a journey of improving the team. We talk on a daily basis about being better than we were the day before. It's easy for someone to smash a session, but it takes great players to do it time and time again.
"We have days where we don't have the best performance, but we've also got people around to say 'that's not England standard'. Scarratt, Cornborough, Ward, Packer, they're the ones driving the standards on and off the pitch and showing by example what it takes to stay at the top.
“I think since they’ve had the contracts it's given them a boost and their coaching staff have galvanized their squad. You’ve seen that in their two performances so far; if they’re in the game they will bring it to you, force errors, and make it tough. Their back three especially with Jas Joyce and Katie Powell, if they get the ball they’re going to be dangerous.
“They’ve been extraordinarily good at turning the ball over in the first two rounds. We know that if teams want to stop us playing that’s where they’re going to target. Ruck speed is going to be important against them and it's something we've been giving a lot of focus towards this week.”
Head Coach Simon Middleton: “In terms of how the competition is rolling along we’re really pleased and we're on track with where we want to be. We have 8 personnel changes this weekend, and had 12 the weekend before, and we’ve still come up with two really good performances and critically the Italy performance was better than the Scotland performance. We expect this one to be better still or that’s certainly our intention.
"We’re very much on track, our message is consistent with where we started. You tweak things in accordance with who you’re playing, but it’s very much about our performance, the performance is massive for us, and that’s where we keep the majority of our focus.
"We’re very conscious of Wales’ set piece, they’ve got a very good set piece, but we've started to see our set piece come to life. Deacs is very keen on having a very destructive scrum, we have a world class lineout, but we want both to be world class.
"I think we definitely stepped forward last week and we saw the impact of the finishers when they came on but there’s still some key performance areas that we need to step forward in. We were really good last week in a lot of things we did but defence is one of the areas we could still improve on and the physicality of our set piece.”
Previous encounters
- Women's Six Nations - 7 March 2020: England 66-7 Wales
- Women’s Six Nations – 24 February 2019: Wales 12-51 England
- Women’s Six Nations – 10 February 2018: England 52-0 Wales
- Women’s Six Nations – 11 February 2017: Wales 0-63 England
- Women’s Six Nations – 12 March 2016: England 20-13 Wales
- Women’s Six Nations – 8 February 2015: Wales 13-0 England
- Women’s Six Nations – 7 March 2014: England 35-3 Wales
- Women’s Six Nations – 17 March 2013 – Wales 16-20 England
- Women’s Six Nations – 25 February 2012 – England 33-0 Wales
- Women’s Six Nations – 6 February 2011 – Wales 0-19 England
Key Stats
- England have won on all 10 occasions when they have hosted Wales in the TikTok Women’s Six Nations; they have scored in excess of 30 points in nine of those matches, along with preventing Wales from scoring a single point on five occasions.
- Wales won their last away match in the TikTok Women’s Six Nations (27-19 v Ireland in round one) after winning just one in 11 previously
- England have won their last 14 games at home in the TikTok Women’s Six Nations, having last tasted defeat on their own patch over seven years ago
- England (3) and Wales (3) are the only teams to have scored tries from mauls in the 2022 TikTok Women’s Six Nations.
- Emily Scarratt scored her 50th try for the Red Roses against Italy and will earn her 99th cap against Wales on Saturday
- Wales have won their opening two matches in the championship for the first time since 2015 after having previously lost seven in a row
- England have run in 21 tries from their opening two games of this year's Six Nations, 10 more than second-placed France and 12 more than this weekend's opponents Wales
- The Red Roses have scored a total of 232 points in their last four encounters with Wales, conceding just 19
- Attack
- T - Tries
- M - Metres carried
- C - Carries
- DB - Defenders beaten
- CB - Clean breaks
- P - Passes
- O - Offloads
- TC - Turnovers conceded
- TA - Try assists
- PTS - Points
- Defence
- Tackles - Tackles
- MT - Missed tackles
- TW - Turnovers won
- Kicking
- K - Kicks in play
- C - Conversions
- PG - Penalty goals
- DG - Drop goals
- Set plays
- TW - Throws won
- LW - Lineouts won
- LS - Lineout steals
- Discipline
- PC - Penalties conceded
- RC - Red cards
- YC - Yellow cards
Red Roses beat Wales in Gloucester
The Red Roses scored ten tries at Kingsholm Stadium en route to a 58-5 win over Wales in the TikTok Women's Six Nations.
They are now unbeaten in 21 consecutive Tests.
Simon Middleton's side started tentatively, unable to impose their usual dominance early on, as Wales showed attacking promise through full back Kayleigh Powell while captain Siwan Lillicrap was at the heart of spoiling momentum at set piece.
Abby Dow left the field on the 14-minute mark due to injury, replaced by Ellie Kildunne, and the game's first try shortly followed. Scored by hooker Lark Davies off the back of a 10-metre driving lineout. Abbie Ward bagged England's second score seven minutes later, the lock hitting a hard line metres from the whitewash to barrel over, and Zoe Harrison's extras made it 12-0.
Wales soaked up pressure and disrupted England by forcing penalty turnovers each time they got close to the line. Undeterred, the Red Roses continued to attack relentlessly, and finally found their third try courtesy of Jess Breach. Making her first international appearance since May 2021, the winger was found wide in space, and rounded Powell before touching down in the corner. Harrison's conversion was successful, making it 19-0 at the break.
Half time stats showed just how competitive the Test was, the Red Roses beating just three more defenders than their opponents, making 16 more carries and 112 more metres. They boasted slightly more possession - with 58% - whilst the majority of the match was played in the Welsh half - 65%.
England started the second half brightly, securing the bonus point try a few minutes in - through another Davies score - a carbon copy of her first. That was the catalyst behind a lift in tempo as Breach crossed for her second on 52 minutes, thanks to a pinpoint pass from Harrison that found her unmarked, and able to dot down for the easiest of tries.
Sarah Bern bagged the Red Roses' sixth moments later, a smart set play move off a five metre lineout handing her a mismatch on the blindside and an easy path to the line. Harrison's conversion made it 36-0.
Natalia John was shown a yellow card as the match passed the hour, before Ward and Alex Matthews combined in open play down the right flank for the latter to score, bouncing off two Welsh defenders en route to the line.
England looked set to record a second consecutive game without conceding a point, so strong was their defence throughout, but it was not to be as replacement Kelsey Jones powered over for a well-deserved try.
In the final minutes of the match Shaunagh Brown, Emily Scarratt and captain Sarah Hunter scored a try each to confirm a comprehensive win.
Teams
Red Roses
15. Abigail Dow, 14. Jess Breach, 13. Emily Scarratt (VC), 12. Helena Rowland, 11. Sarah McKenna, 10. Zoe Harrison, 9. Lucy Packer, 1. Vickii Cornborough, 2. Lark Davies, 3. Sarah Bern, 4. Poppy Cleall, 5. Abbie Ward, 6. Alex Matthews, 7. Marlie Packer, 8. Sarah Hunter (C).
Finishers
16. Connie Powell, 17. Maud Muir, 18. Shaunagh Brown, 19. Rosie Galligan, 20. Vicky Fleetwood, 21. Natasha Hunt, 22. Amber Reed, 23. Ellie Kildunne.
Wales
15. Kayleigh Powell, 14. Lisa Neumann, 13. Hannah Jones, 12. Kerin Lake, 11. Jasmine Joyce, 10. Robyn Wilkins, 9. Ffion Lewis, 1. Gwenllian Pyrs, 2. Carys Phillips, 3. Donna Rose, 4. Sisilia Tuipulotu, 5. Gwen Crabb. 6. Siwan Lillicrap (C), 7. Alisha Butchers, 8. Sioned Harries.
Replacements
16. Kelsey Jones, 17. Cara Hope, 18. Cerys Hale, 19. Alex Callender, 20. Bethan Lewis, 21. Keira Baven, 22. Elinor Snowsill, 23. Natalia John.
Fixtures & Results
Red Roses 58 - 5 Wales
Red Roses v Ireland - 24 April
France v Red Roses - 30 April
